Lauren Heard joins 2,000-point club as TCU falls to West Virginia in Big 12 tournament
Lauren Heard became TCU basketball’s all-time scoring leader last week. She became a member of the 2,000-point club this week.
Heard scored 14 points in TCU’s 68-48 loss to West Virginia in the Big 12 tournament on Thursday night at Municipal Auditorium.
Heard needed eight points to reach the 2,000 mark. She reached that number by knocking down two free throws at the 5:32 mark of the fourth quarter. She scored six more points down the stretch and will close her college career with 2,006 points.
“It’s a huge honor to get 2,000 points,” Heard said. “Girls play for five, six, seven years and that’s not an award you always get. That was definitely a huge personal accomplishment for me.”
Heard’s individual accomplishment is a positive in what became a lost season for the program.
TCU (6-22) closed on a 14-game losing streak and finished with its worst record since a 2-25 campaign in 1995-96. The Frogs also had just two conference wins this season, their fewest since the first year in the Big 12 when the team went 9-21 overall and 2-16 in Big 12 play in 2012-13 under Jeff Mittie.
But Heard’s chase for the scoring record and 2,000 points served as a bright spot throughout the year.
Coach Raegan Pebley called it an accomplishment that should be talked about and celebrated. Pebley mentioned how Heard scores her points mostly by penetration and getting to the free throw line, not as a 3-point specialist.
“First of all, your body can withhold all the games that it takes. That’s tremendous right there,” Pebley said. “Then people’s game plans begin and end with Lo. She gets a lot of people’s physical attention, strategic attention.
“She just has so many layers to her scoring, but the physical toll that it’s taken, she works hard to take care of her body and develop her game. The 2,000 points is important to talk about, but she knows that she’s way more than that. Way more.”
Heard became TCU’s all-time scoring leader with a 21-point performance at Texas Tech on March 2. Heard is in her fifth season with the Frogs as she took advantage of the NCAA’s COVID year to extend her college career by one season.
Heard scored more than 2,000 points during her high school career at Denton Guyer as well.
Heard is the 19th player from the Big 12 to reach the 2,000-point club this century (1999-00 on), including the third player in the league to accomplish the feat this season. Texas Tech’s Vivian Gray and Iowa State’s Ashley Joens also reached the milestone.
Heard is known for her scoring ability, of course, but leaves a legacy as an all-around player. She’s just the eighth player this century (since 1999-00) to score at least 1,900 points, 750 rebounds, 500 assists and 250 steals in her career.
Others in that group: Maya Moore (UConn), Alana Beard (Duke), Casey Garrison (Missouri State), Shenise Johnson (Miami, Fla.), Shakyla Hill (Grambling), Courtney Pilypaitis (Vermont), and Ta’Kenya Nixon (Eastern Illinois).
For Heard, the personal achievements are rewarding even though the season didn’t go well.
“You can’t micromanage life. You can’t micromanage your journey and success,” Heard said. “Sometimes a season goes how you would not like it to go, but it’s helping the future. You’re planting seeds for the future.
“Right now, even though it’s not going how we want, it’s not about us right now. We have to look at the bigger picture. As coach said, we have a lot to be proud of and the work that we have done thus far.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 10:01 PM.
